Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Dec. 15, 2014

As MMA continues to grow its presence with the UFC, Bellator MMA, WSOF and ONE FC, fighters are constantly jockeying for position in the eyes (and rankings) of the media.

Every week, Combat Press will rank each weight class from heavyweight to flyweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings.

Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last week

Heavyweight

Cain Velasquez (1)

Fabricio Werdum (2)

Junior dos Santos (3)

Travis Browne (4)

Josh Barnett (5)

Stipe Miocic (6)

Mark Hunt (7)

Ben Rothwell (8)

Andrei Arlovski (9)

Roy Nelson (10)

The rankings didn’t change, but if there were any doubts about the toughness of No. 6-ranked Stipe Miocic prior to UFC on Fox 13, those were erased in his five-round war with former champion Junior dos Santos. Miocic and dos Santos battered each other for the full 25 minutes, but neither fighter succumbed to the punishment. Although both still have work to do before being considered for a title shot, they proved why they’re firmly planted in the top 10.

Light Heavyweight

Jon Jones (1)

Alexander Gustafsson (2)

Daniel Cormier (3)

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (4)

Rashad Evans (5)

Phil Davis (6)

Glover Teixeira (7)

Vitor Belfort (8)

Ryan Bader (9)

Ovince Saint Preux (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Middleweight

Chris Weidman (1)

Vitor Belfort (2)

Anderson Silva (3)

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (4)

Luke Rockhold (5)

Lyoto Machida (6)

Yoel Romero (7)

Tim Kennedy (8)

Michael Bisping (9)

Gegard Mousasi (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Welterweight

Robbie Lawler (1)

Johny Hendricks (2)

Georges St-Pierre (3)

Ben Askren (4)

Rory MacDonald (5)

Matt Brown (6)

Hector Lombard (7)

Tyron Woodley (8)

Carlos Condit (9)

Dong Hyun Kim (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Lightweight

Anthony Pettis (1)

Gilbert Melendez (2)

Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)

Rafael dos Anjos (4)

Benson Henderson (5)

Donald Cerrone (6)

Eddie Alvarez (7)

Will Brooks (8)

Edson Barboza (9)

Myles Jury (10)

Domination. There’s no other word to describe the performance put on by No. 4-ranked Rafael dos Anjos against former title challenger Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox 13. The Brazilian simply destroyed the lead leg of Diaz with leg kicks and cemented his place as a title threat. With No. 3-ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov on the sidelines due to injury, UFC President Dana White revealed that dos Anjos will be next to challenge champion Anthony Pettis.

Featherweight

Jose Aldo (1)

Chad Mendes (2)

Frankie Edgar (3)

Cub Swanson (4)

Ricardo Lamas (5)

Dennis Bermudez (6)

Conor McGregor (7)

Dustin Poirier (8)

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (9)

Pat Curran (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Bantamweight

T.J. Dillashaw (1)

Renan Barão (2)

Dominick Cruz (3)

Urijah Faber (4)

Bibiano Fernandes (5)

Raphael Assuncao (6)

Michael McDonald (7)

Iuri Alcantara (8)

Marlon Moraes (9)

Joe Warren (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Flyweight

Demetrious Johnson (1)

Joseph Benavidez (2)

John Dodson (3)

Ian McCall (4)

Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (5)

Zach Makovsky (6)

John Lineker (7)

John Moraga (9)

Ali Bagautinov (8)

Kyoji Horiguchi (10)

Former title challenger John Moraga crept up one spot in the rankings with this third-round finish of Willie Gates at UFC on Fox 13. Moraga faced adversity in the opening round, but showed resiliency to earn the submission win.

Pound-For-Pound

Jose Aldo (1)

Jon Jones (2)

Demetrious Johnson (3)

Ronda Rousey (4)

Cain Velasquez (5)

Chris Weidman (6)

Anthony Pettis (7)

T.J. Dillashaw (8)

Robbie Lawler (9)

Anderson Silva (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

About The Author

Rob Tatum has been covering combat sports since 2009. His work has appeared on Bleacher Report, MMA DieHards, MMAinterviews and The MMA Corner. Prior to covering combat sports, Rob ran his own music website from 2002-2009. Beyond his writing, Rob has trained in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai. He is a Colorado native that works as a mechanical engineer during the day. In his free time, Rob enjoys watching sports, playing music and working on cars.